Hermione: I Don't Understand!

However, Harry's idea was destined to fail, because Veratia had not appeared at Hogwarts in the past few days.

She's been very busy lately, practically never stopping, shuttling between various schools.

It was around this time that Harry began his summer vacation after his third year of high school.

Having a holiday is a great thing, even for Harry.

Although he could still slack off while at school, holidays meant he could go out and have some fun, which was much freer than being at school.

Of course, Dumbledore never forbade him from leaving Hogwarts.

"I should say," Ron twirled his fingers, "I'm really looking forward to this summer—you know what? The Quidditch World Cup finals are going to be held in Britain! My dad already confirmed it!"

Upon hearing Ron's words, Gryffindor turned their gazes toward him—and not just the Gryffindor, but even the Slytherin behind them turned their eyes toward Ron.

It wasn't because of Ron's inside information, but because of his sudden, uncharacteristic verbal tic.

There's no other reason than that the verbal tic of "my dad" is usually Draco's.

"I really suspect you've been hit with Malfoy's Imperius Curse," Neville whispered. "You know, for a moment, I really thought it wasn't you sitting in front of me, but him..."

"That's what I think too." Hermione nodded in agreement, ignoring Neville's mention of the Imperius Curse.

Having already endured the devastation of the Dueling Club, Hermione was long since immune to these Unforgivable Curse.

As for the Unforgivable Curse, it doesn't really matter as long as it's not used on classmates.

"What are you doing?" Draco's voice came from behind. "Weasley's right, the World Cup finals is indeed going to be held in Britain this year. Are you going to watch? My dad's planning to book a top-class box for our family..."

The astonished expressions of the crowd returned to normal.

That's right, only Draco saying that doesn't feel out of place.

"That's great." Harry looked back, but couldn't find Cassandra, so he asked again, "Where's Cassandra? Is she with you?"

"My dad said she was probably watching the World Cup with you."

Draco was still a little sullen when he said this.

"If you hadn't mentioned it, I would have forgotten. I should have also asked someone to order some tickets."

Harry had actually forgotten about it, but it wasn't a big deal, since Sirius couldn't possibly not get tickets to the Quidditch World Cup.

Just then, Hedwig and a flock of owls flew in from outside.

It was clutching a letter in its paws, which looked like it belonged to Veratia.

"It's a letter from Veratia." Harry opened the letter, read it carefully, and then carefully put it away.

"What does it say?" Ron asked curiously.

As a result, Ron was slapped by Hermione.

"Don't ask questions you shouldn't ask, Ronald!" she hissed, looking exactly like another of Ron's mothers.

Ron's lips trembled slightly.

Harry glanced at Ron instinctively, already anticipating Ron's miserable future.

It seems that Ron's life won't be much better than a mule's; he'll be completely domesticated, bitten and bridled.

"Veratia said she'd be going back to the Black family home in a few days and told me not to wait for her... saying she has an interview with the Austrian Ministry of Magic in the next few days...?!"

He seemed a little dazed when he said this.

An interview at the Austrian Ministry of Magic? What kind of interview?

Could it be that Veratia's idea is true? Is she really planning to work for the Ministry of Magic?

"She's going to the Ministry of Magic?" Hermione frowned, asking hesitantly, "Will the Austrian Ministry of Magic grant her a position?"

"I'm afraid so."

Ron picked up the Daily Prophet in front of him and pointed to the news on it for Hermione to see.

"See? The Austrian Ministry of Magic has been reorganized, but... no one has been announced yet who the new Minister for Magic will be. We'll just have to wait and see."

"What does this have to do with Miss Grindelwald?" Draco asked, frowning. "Logically speaking, the reorganization of the Ministry of Magic shouldn't affect whether or not someone can join the Ministry of Magic, right?"

"It's hard to say," Ron said.

"You're making judgments without understanding how the Ministry of Magic works!" Draco said angrily. "Fine, you wouldn't understand anyway, so let's just tell you who you think is the right person to win the Quidditch World Cup— "

The moment the Quidditch World Cup was mentioned, the students around him lit up.

The Quidditch World Cup, also known as the World Cup or World Championship, has been held every four years since 1473.

In the tournament, Quidditch team representing their respective countries and regions compete against each other to determine the winner, who then wins the World Cup.

Five hundred Ministry of Magic officials worked tirelessly for a whole year to prepare for the Quidditch World Cup World Cup final, not only to repair the venue but also to make wizards from all over the world feel at home.

"Bulgarian team, of course!" Ron said without hesitation. "The Bulgarian team Seeker, Viktor Krum, he's really good... Merlin, I really hope to get his autograph, I still have his poster hanging in my dorm room."

Upon hearing that Ron actually liked Viktor Krum, Draco couldn't help but give him an approving look.

"I heard he's a student at Durmstrang," Draco said with a smile. "Speaking of which, I almost became his classmate. My dad wanted to send me to Durmstrang, but my mom thought it would be too far from home, so she didn't agree. Otherwise, I might have met him."

Durmstrang, this school has a great reputation.

It was a school that refused to accept Muggle students and allowed students to practice Dark Arts.

This school was also Gellert's alma mater, but he was expelled because Gellert caused some trouble at the school.

Rumor has it that he displayed exceptional magical talent at a young age. However, Grindelwald did not focus his energy on pursuing honors and awards, but instead devoted himself to Dark Arts. At the age of sixteen, he was expelled for conducting "Wicked Experiments" and "attacking a classmate, nearly killing him."

Of course, Gellert himself has been denying this, but as everyone knows, only denials are credible.

After being expelled, he went to Britain, where he formed a close and romantic relationship with the young Albus Dumbledore. He planned to find the Deathly Hallows and lead a wizarding revolution to break the International Statute of Secrecy and establish a global hierarchical order led by wise and powerful wizards to rule over Muggle.

Of course, what happened next wasn't so romantic.

"You actually want to go to Durmstrang?!" Ron asked in astonishment, then said with relief, "Well, you are Malfoy after all, it's normal for you to be interested in Durmstrang. It's a school that upholds the concept of Pure-blood."

"Ha." Draco smirked. "That's true, but I still think Hogwarts is better..."

"Don't you think Hogwarts is no good now?" Ron asked, glancing sideways. He had heard Draco talk about Hogwarts a lot when he School Opening first year.

Not only Hogwarts, but Dumbledore also cricketed on an equal footing.

Upon hearing this, Draco raised his head and puffed out his chest, saying with pride:

"That was because I was ignorant back then. Now I think Hogwarts is the best magic school in the world!"

Indeed, judging from his expression, you can tell that he spoke from the bottom of his heart.

Seamus suddenly interjected, "I'm actually more concerned about the World Cup matches than that—to be honest, the Britain teams' performance has been less than ideal: England team lost 10-390 to Transylvania team, Scotland team lost to Luxembourg team, and Wales team lost to Uganda team."

These words really hit home, and the atmosphere around them became somber upon hearing Seamus's words.

"It's okay," Ron said, trying to cheer everyone up. "At least we made it into the World Cup, right? It's better than those countries that didn't even qualify."

Of course, this has nothing to do with Ceres. After all, Ceres ' Quidditch team was quite good, a thousand times better than the infamous (in every way) Chinese National Football Team of later generations.

This has led to a strange phenomenon—when a foreigner talks to a normal China person, if you say that certain aspects of China are bad, everyone will have a dialectical discussion with you, presenting facts and reasoning; but if this foreigner criticizes the Chinese national National Football Team, then even the most patriotic China person will give you a thumbs up and praise you for having good taste.

"Hopefully the Ministry of Magic is well-prepared," Ron muttered. "But I heard Percy's going to work for the Ministry of Magic soon, and if I'm not mistaken, he'll be assigned to Quidditch..."

Everyone chatted and laughed as they continued talking about the Quidditch World Cup.

The holiday has quietly arrived, and the school has decided not to release the grades for the time being.

I don't know what got into Dumbledore, but according to him, the Quidditch World Cup, which comes around every four years, is coming up, and everyone should have a happy and joyful holiday.

In response, the students shouted "Long live!" and sincerely wished the Headmaster good health forever.

"Did you see Professor Snape's face?" Ron whispered. "Good heavens, I really wonder how... well, it just felt like..."

"What does it seem like?" Neville asked in a low voice when he saw that Ron was hesitant to speak.

Ron glanced back, and after confirming that no one was behind him, he said confidently, "It's like he hasn't pooped in centuries, his face is ashen..."

"Well said, Mr. Weasley. Ronald Weasley."

A greasy voice came from the seat opposite Ron, Ron jolted awake to find that the person sitting in front of him was...

Sirius, speaking in a pinched voice.

"To express my appreciation for your keen eye, I've decided not to give you any homework for Defense Against the Dark Arts."

After saying that, Sirius picked up the Pumpkin Juice on the table and gave Ron a "cheers" gesture.

"You're really too..." Ron searched for an adjective for a while before finally saying, "You're really too good, Professor Sirius."

"I've always been good at meeting my students' needs, so I usually don't assign much homework during holidays."

Sirius winked at Ron, "After all, Lupin and I won't be teaching at Hogwarts starting next term..."

"Why?!"

Surprisingly, the strongest reaction came not from Gryffindor, but from Ravenclaw were not far away.

The Ravenclaw girls looked utterly devastated; it was clear they simply didn't want Sirius to leave Hogwarts.

"Because of some things," Sirius said casually, "I'm going to work for the Ministry of Magic, and Lupin... well, some parent who doesn't want to be named filed a formal complaint with the Ministry of Magic, saying that the teacher of the Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts is a Werewolf, so he has to leave his position and find another job to make a living."

"Why!" Hermione protested, "We all know Professor Lupin's character. Although he's a Werewolf, he's a kind person, a competent and qualified teacher—I don't understand why the parents are all talking about his Werewolf identity as if he might tear us apart at any moment..."

"But that's reality, little girl." Sirius shrugged helplessly. "Even though Dumbledore repeatedly assured us, the Ministry of Magic would never allow such a thing to happen, so Moony had no choice but to resign. He didn't want to put Dumbledore difficult position either."

"Jesus, this..."

Hermione was so angry she almost cried.

"If I were Minister for Magic, I would never do this!" she said angrily.

"Then you'll have to become Minister for Magic first, Hermione," Ron said from the side.

Hermione didn't say anything, but turned around and glared at Ron.

"Have something to eat," Sirius said with a smile, reaching for Meiji beside him. "This separation is only temporary. Perhaps the next Defense Against the Dark Arts professor will be even better."

"But it won't be like you..."

As Hermione spoke, she looked up at the Ravenclaw girls.

"The Defense Against the Dark Arts class, which is popular with the girls, has been taught."

"That's true!"

Sirius showed no humility whatsoever; he knew, of course, that he was very popular with the female students.

However, he wouldn't go so far as to date a student; his orientation is quite normal, and he prefers blondes with long, wavy hair.

Of course, these five characters need to be punctuated carefully.

"Professor Black, please don't go!"

The girls in Ravenclaw were almost in tears, and some were even sobbing quietly with their heads down.

"Parting is only for a better reunion, girls," Sirius said with a chuckle and a shrug.

Just then, Dumbledore walked into the Great Hall from outside.

He was holding two strangely shaped objects in his hands, which immediately attracted the attention of his classmates.

(End of this chapter)